Exodus 29: Aaron and His Sons Consecrated
1 And this is what you shall do to them to hallow them for ministering to Me as priests: Take one young bull and two rams without blemish, 2 and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil (you shall make them of wheat flour). 3 You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, with the bull and the two rams.
4 And Aaron and his sons you shall bring to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and you shall wash them with water.
Put the offering into their hands and then you shall wash them with water.
Baptism- "Taken out of that laver, Exodus 30:18. This signified the universal pollution of all men, and the absolute need they have of washing, especially when they are to draw nigh to God. And this outward washing was only typical of their spiritual washing by the blood and Spirit of Christ in order to their acceptance with God.” (Matthew Poole)
"A symbolic action representing the need of inward purity in those who approach God. Washing is frequently enjoined as an act of ceremonial purification: see e.g. Exodus 30:17-21; Leviticus 11:25; Leviticus 14:8; Leviticus 15:18, etc., and cp. Mark 7:3, Mark 7:4. The symbol is retained in Christian baptism: cp. 1 Peter 3:21.” (John Dummelow)
5 Then you shall take the garments, put the tunic on Aaron, and the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the intricately woven band of the ephod. 6 You shall put the turban on his head, and put the holy crown on the turban. 7 And you shall take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, and anoint him. 8 Then you shall bring his sons and put tunics on them. 9 And you shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and put the hats on them. The priesthood shall be theirs for a perpetual statute. So you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons.
"The Investiture of Aaron and His Sons. The priests were to be washed, dressed, and anointed with oil. Certainly this is a very clear indication of their being cleansed spiritually, clothed with God's righteousness, and empowered by the Holy Spirit.” (The Wycliffe Bible Commentary)
10 You shall also have the bull brought before the tabernacle of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the bull. 11 Then you shall kill the bull before the Lord, by the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 12 You shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour all the blood beside the base of the altar. 13 And you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. 14 But the flesh of the bull, with its skin and its offal, you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering.
The sin offering.— "They came each one and leaned upon the victim, loading him with their burden, signifying their acceptance of its substitution, their joy that the Lord would accept that victim in their stead. When they put their hands on the bullock, they made a confession of sin." (Spurgeon)
15 You shall also take one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the ram; 16 and you shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood and sprinkle it all around on the altar. 17 Then you shall cut the ram in pieces, wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and with its head. 18 And you shall burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord; it is a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.
The burnt offering.— "As the sin offering before it, the burnt offering also symbolically received the sins of the priests and they laid their hands on the head of the animal and confessed their sin.” (David Guzik) The ram received the just recompense for the sins of the priests-- death by fire, as it is written, "for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." (Gen 2:17)
19 You shall also take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the ram. 20 Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar. 21 And you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar, and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments, on his sons and on the garments of his sons with him; and he and his garments shall be hallowed, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him.
The application of blood.—Other ram. "The priests had sacrificial blood applied to their ears, thumbs, and big toes (Exodus 29:20). This symbolized their complete consecration: to hear the word of God, to serve as mediators, and to walk as an example to others. They experienced sprinkling with blood signifying their complete sanctification.
Their anointing with oil (Exodus 29:21) represented their endowment with power by God's Spirit for divine service.” (Dr. Thomas Constable)
22 Also you shall take the fat of the ram, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver, the two kidneys and the fat on them, the right thigh (for it is a ram of consecration), 23 one loaf of bread, one cake made with oil, and one wafer from the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the Lord; 24 and you shall put all these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and you shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. 25 You shall receive them back from their hands and burn them on the altar as a burnt offering, as a sweet aroma before the Lord. It is an offering made by fire to the Lord. 26 Then you shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s consecration and wave it as a wave offering before the Lord; and it shall be your portion. 27 And from the ram of the consecration you shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering which is waved, and the thigh of the heave offering which is raised, of that which is for Aaron and of that which is for his sons. 28 It shall be from the children of Israel for Aaron and his sons by a statute forever. For it is a heave offering; it shall be a heave offering from the children of Israel from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, that is, their heave offering to the Lord.
The wave offering and the Covenant Meal.— "Part of it was to be first waved before the Lord, and then burnt upon the altar, these were first put into the hands of Aaron to be waved to and fro in token of their being offered to God [to be accepted on their behalf], and then they were to be burnt upon the altar, for the altar was to devour God's part of the sacrifice. Thus God admitted Aaron and his sons to wait at his table, taking the meat of his altar from their hands. Here, in a parenthesis as it were, comes in the law concerning the priests part of the peace - offerings afterwards, the breast and shoulder, which were now divided; Moses had the breast, and the shoulder was burnt on the altar with God's part.” (Wesley) "A covenant meal… (cf. Exodus 24:11; Exodus 32:6)... is precisely what is implied in the sharing of the ram of consecration by Yahweh and the priests.” (Merrill)
29 And the holy garments of Aaron shall be his sons’ after him, to be anointed in them and to be consecrated in them. 30 That son who becomes priest in his place shall put them on for seven days, when he enters the tabernacle of meeting to minister in the holy place.
31 And you shall take the ram of the consecration and boil its flesh in the holy place. 32 Then Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 33 They shall eat those things with which the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them; but an outsider shall not eat them, because they are holy. 34 And if any of the flesh of the consecration offerings, or of the bread, remains until the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.
35 Thus you shall do to Aaron and his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Seven days you shall consecrate them. 36 And you shall offer a bull every day as a sin offering for atonement. You shall cleanse the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to sanctify it. 37 Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and sanctify it. And the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar must be holy.
The week of consecration.— "The rite of consecration is to last seven days. During this time Aaron and his sons live on the offering of consecration in the court; their food is exclusively sacred food belonging to priests and to festivals; hence what is left over is burnt. Furthermore one bullock a day is slaughtered as a sinoffering.” (Lange Commentary)
"Then Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:54-58)
Exodus 29: The Daily Offerings
38 Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs of the first year, day by day continually. 39 One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight. 40 With the one lamb shall be one-tenth of an ephah of flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of pressed oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering. 41 And the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; and you shall offer with it the grain offering and the drink offering, as in the morning, for a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 42 This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before Yahweh, where I will meet you to speak with you.
"One lamb thou shalt offer in the morning - These two lambs, one in the morning, and the other in the evening, were generally termed the morning and evening daily sacrifices, and were offered from the time of their settlement in the promised land to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. The use of these sacrifices according to the Jews was this: 'The morning sacrifice made atonement for the sins committed in the night, and the evening sacrifice expiated the sins committed during the day.’” (Clarke)
"This was to be a continual burnt-offering throughout their generations, Exodus 29:42 and was expressive of their constant faith in the future LAMB to be sacrificed for the sins of the world, as well as of their daily dependence upon God for the increase… ” (Coke's Commentary) Speaking of the harvesting of souls for true Israel, Paul said:
"I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” (1 Cor 3:6-8)
Daily the children of Israel were to be seeking to bring others to faith by bringing them to the tabernacle of meeting. "When this daily sacrifice was intermitted, - as in the days of Antiochus, that little Antichrist, - they counted it an 'abomination of desolation.' [Daniel 12:11 Matthew 24:15]” (Trapp) But finally when Vespasian and Titus destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70: “It ceased, as God prophesied that it would, 'upon the wings of abomination'... (Daniel 9:27).” (Coffman) There is no place for the sacrifices to take place, as the temple was also destroyed and has never been rebuilt.
"God’s intention was... to arouse His people, so that, being affected by a serious feeling of repentance, and by pure faith, they should seek for the remission of their sins, not in these lambs which they saw slain, but in the victim promised to them. They called it the ‘continual' sacrifice, because God commanded it to be offered continually through all generations; but it appears from Daniel that it was temporary, for it ceased at the coming of Christ; for so speaks the angel: Christ
'shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the continual sacrifice, and the oblation... to cease.' (Daniel 9:27.)
It is clear that he speaks of this kind of sacrifice. Hence we assuredly gather that by this sacrifice the minds of the people were directed to Christ.” (Calvin's Commentaries on the Bible)
"The flour mingled with the beaten oil constituted the meat offering.. and the wine is here expressly called a drink offering. This was a form of worship old as the days of the patriarchs, (see on Genesis 35:14,) and consisted in a devotional pouring out the wine as an oblation before or upon the altar of burnt offerings.” (Whedon's Commentary )The meat (meal) and drink offerings were to accompany the burnt sacrifice—"signs of the gratitude due to God for His perpetual mercies, and acknowledgments of His protecting care and lovingkindness...” (Ellicott) and showed "the necessity of the Spirit's graces accompanying the merits of the Redeemer, to supply all the wants of the sinner? John 3:5.” (Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary)
"This daily service, a lamb offered upon the altar every morning, and every evening, typified the continual intercession which Christ ever lives to make in the virtue of his satisfaction for the continual sanctification of his church: though he offered himself once for all, yet that one offering thus becomes a continual offering. And this teaches us to offer up to God the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise every day, morning and evening, in humble acknowledgment of our dependence upon him, and our obligations to him.” (Wesley's Explanatory Notes)
43 And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory. 44 So I will consecrate the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. I will also consecrate both Aaron and his sons to minister to Me as priests. 45 I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am Yahweh their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am Yahweh their God.
Yahweh said: I will sanctify both Aaron and his sons.
"So we find the sanctification by Moses according to the Divine institution was only symbolical; and that Aaron and his sons must be sanctified, i.e., made holy, by God himself before they could officiate in holy things. From this, as well as from many other things mentioned in the sacred writings, we may safely infer that no designation by man only is sufficient to qualify any person to fill the office of a minister of the sanctuary. The approbation and consecration of man have both their propriety and use, but must never be made substitutes for the unction and inspiration of the Almighty. Let holy men ordain, but let God sanctify; then we may expect that his Church shall be built up on its most holy faith.
I will dwell among the children of Israel - This is the great charter of the people of God, both under the Old and New Testaments; see Exodus 25:8; Leviticus 26:11, Leviticus 26:12; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Revelation 21:3. God dwells Among them: he is ever to be found in his Church to enlighten, quicken, comfort, and support it; to dispense the light of life by the preaching of his word, and the influences of his Spirit for the conviction and conversion of sinners. And he dwells In those who believe; and this is the very tenor of the New Covenant which God promised to make with the house of Israel; see Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 37:24-28; Hebrews 8:7-12; and 2 Corinthians 6:16. And because God had promised to dwell in all his genuine followers, hence the frequent reference to this covenant and its privileges in the New Testament. And hence it is so frequently and strongly asserted that every believer is a habitation of God through the Spirit, Ephesians 2:22. That the Spirit of God witnesses with their spirits that they are the children of God, Romans 8:16. That the Spirit of Christ in their hearts enables them to call God their Father, Galatians 4:6. And that if any man have not this Spirit, he is none of his, Romans 8:9, etc. And hence St. Paul states this to be the sum and substance of apostolical preaching, and the riches of the glory of the mystery of the Gospel among the Gentiles, viz., Christ In you the hope of glory; whom, says he, we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect In Christ Jesus; Colossians 1:27, Colossians 1:28.” (Adam Clarke's Commentary)